Continuing Engineering
Product changes after introduction

Page started June 11, 2009 - about 5 years after 1st IBM 1401 arrived for restoration

The letter to Robert Garner that inspired this page

----- Original Message -----
From: George R Ahearn
To: Robert B Garner
Cc: Ed Thelen
Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 4:56 PM
Subject: Re: fyi - Fran's recollections on enjoying his work...
> Robert:
> In your notes of things to bring up with Fran:
> We are wondering about the 'Sterling' feature of the 'Edit' instruction.
> Was that designed by the Endicott engineers,
> or by some folks in the World Trade Corporation?
> George
==========================
Yes indeed !! INDEED !!
Some of us were standing about, late in the day, chatting,
and George brought these questions up -
Folks seemed to be very interested !!
Other questions bubbled up -
There are so many interesting questions about the origins
and continuation engineering of the popular and
highly adapted (for better or worse ;-)) IBM 1401
some questions/comments included
- the (field !!) upgrading of the timing in the 1402
from mechanical "CB"s to "solar cell"
- that infamous "OverLap" feature,
also field upgradeable (almost ;-))
- the printer buffer -
Then, generalizing, what about the whole business of continuing
and manufacturing engineering including the above and
- customer requests
- added peripherals, RAMAC (1405), memory (1406), serial (1407), ...
and the tapes, and ...
I got to thinking of a web page giving the sequence of the enhancements
and changes during the life of the 1401 product line.
We have been so fascinated with the origins and finding sources and people,
that the product life may not be getting "equal time" ;-))
Then there was a question of just how to gather and remember
all these added questions.
So that you can ask Fran and the old timers.
-er- the people involved with
product development and continuation.
Ron Williams mentioned that each machine has the list of
changes. The ALDs for each machine are unique -
There may be a list Field ("D" something List) for the
field change kits.
By then the topics overwhelmed us (or at least me).
We headed off to our various diners/dinners/suppers/TVs/ ...
.Respectfully submitted by
Ed Thelen - social secretary ;-))